Continuation from yesterday……
STEP #7: Create an “Idea Soup” Matrix
This is an extremely powerful approach and one of my favorite ways to generate amazing ideas. Create a matrix of sorts with 10 to 20 or even 100 different words, industries, businesses, etc… spread across the page as a matrix. For instance, one square would have a word “robotics” in it while another square might have a phrase “fast food” in it. Here is just a small example.
| Business Cards | Smart Phone | Kitchen |
| Cloud | Boxing | Car |
| Chemical Engineering | Revolution | Dog |
| Candle | Beautiful Girl | Stapler |
| Sandwich | China | Medical Center |
What you would have to do next is very simply. Go through the matrix and randomly combine different words, businesses or industries in order to create unique combinations. In this instance, you can combine fast food and robotics and begin think of various business ideas that bring robotics into the fast food industry. At the end of the day, there might be nothing there but a lot of wishful thinking. At the same time, by combining these unique concepts you might be able to think of something that can eventually turn into that “huge payoff” idea.
As was mentioned earlier in the book, this sort of an approach will allow you to combine various concepts that were otherwise unrelated. Giving you the ability to come up with some interesting and crazy ideas that you might have never discovered otherwise. How else can you come up with an idea for “Dog Candles” or “Medical Centers in China”? Plus, it’s a ton of fun. The best thing about these matrixes and why I like using them so much is the fact that they…
- A. Are easy and fast to create (no more than 10 minutes).
- B. Help you generate original thinking.
- C. Offer an infinite number of unique possibilities.
Plus, if you already know what industry or area you would like concentrate on, you can tailor your matrix to do just that. You would do so by tailoring the keyword mix to your specifications. For example, if you would love to concentrate on the coffee industry you would populate 50% of your matrix with coffee related keywords while keeping the other half random. This type of a mix will produce the best possible result.
STEP #8: Meditate
While dismissed by many, this is one of the best ways to generate brilliant business ideas. Ideas that will literally knock your socks off. Yet, you have to approach the process with one slight adjustment. At least in this case, meditation for the sake of meditation will do very little to help your cause.
You must first complete Steps 1-7. Then meditate on the information gathered or created in those steps. Meditate on the industry or the company specific information, on various products, on your research and on various business ideas you were able to come up with during the process. As you meditate, you mind will connect the dots in some unexpected ways. Yielding some powerful ideas in the process. It is highly encouraged that you allocate 15 minutes a day to this practice, particularly, if you are in the process of generation new ideas.
To Be Continued On Monday…...(Why Am I Seeing This On A Financial Website?)
